The death of a loved one can cause many unforeseen issues in a person’s life, especially because the person must plan a funeral, settle legal matters, and heal from the devastating loss of a loved one. If an individual is not offered time off to care for these matters it can be an incredibly stressful, and even emotionally damaging, part of a person’s life. Not being able to take off work to settle matters and come to terms with the death of a loved one can affect a worker’s mental health and their ability to perform well at work. While bereavement leave and the amount of time that is offered, whether paid or unpaid, is up to the discretion of the employer, many employees feel that their workplace’s bereavement policies are unfair and not conducive to positive work environments. Furthermore, U.S. workplace leave is well known for being harsh and unrealistic when compared to European countries, but how is this affecting employee’s bereavement leave?
U.S. Bereavement Leave
Currently, only one state—Oregon—requires employers to offer bereavement leave to its employees. All other 49 states, including the District of Columbia, have no set standard for the minimum amount of days that an employee can receive after the death of a loved one, paid or unpaid. Instead, bereavement leave is left up to the discretion of the employer, and after a death, an employee is expected to meet with the employer to negotiate the amount of absent days and pay that they can receive. Employees are expected to share an adequate amount of information with their employer regarding the situation in order to determine the best plan of action. Most U.S. companies have a standard bereavement leave (usually 3-5 days for close family members, and 1 day for other relatives) and these days are usually unpaid. However, a government website does suggest that 1-2 days should be enough bereavement leave. Typically, if the employee decides they need more time off they must have a doctor’s note sent to the employer, or they must use their limited vacation days.
Europe has been outperforming the U.S. with workplace leave in many areas, including maternal, paternal, vacation, and sick leave. Generous workplace leave benefits not only benefit the employee, but also the employers as it increases workplace morale and performance. The European Union has government-mandated workplace leave standards, and the individual countries also have their own laws and regulations. When compared to European countries, the U.S. came almost last in every area of workplace leave. This sheds unfortunate light on U.S. standards for employee care. These standards show high return when considering employee workplace satisfaction, morale, and performance. The same standards of employee care should be applied to U.S. workers as they are highly valuable to a productive workplace. U.S. workers are feeling this strain from harsh workplace leave regulations, and a recent poll found that 71% of people believed that laws needed to be changed regarding bereavement leave.
Anyone who has lost a loved one and had to plan a funeral understands that these low standards for bereavement leave are unrealistic if a workplace is trying to promote a healthy, safe working environment. Following the death of a loved one, whether that be a spouse, parent, grandparent, or child, a person is expected to plan a funeral within a few days and settle many legal matters. Realistically, a person cannot accomplish all of these tasks within a few days, and they certainly cannot take the time to care for their own emotional needs during this short period of time. This low standard for employee care affects the workplace as employees understandably underperform their job tasks, and even half of the 4,000 people polled regarding the topic reported that they would consider leaving their workplace if it did not offer adequate support after a death.
When offering bereavement leave to employees, workplaces should consider an incredibly important factor in the scenario, the employee’s need to grieve and care for their mental health. Employees are the most valuable part of the workplace, and if their mental health is suffering after the death of a loved one, they are not able to offer their full talents and services for the betterment of the workplace. Death is extremely difficult for an individual and can often be life changing. Often, if someone is offered the adequate time and space to grieve, they will recover much quicker from the trauma that a death can induce on an individual.
Although it is most often overlooked, bereavement leave is an important part of an employee’s grieving and healing process. The individual must be allowed time to prepare for the funeral, settle legal affairs, and grieve the loss of the loved one. Bereavement leave is an important part of the workplace and those who are cared for after a death will benefit greatly
Blog Resources
https://www.employmentlawhandbook.com/leave-laws/bereavement-leave-laws/
https://www.fastcompany.com/3056830/how-the-us-employee-benefits-compare-to-europe
https://www.werner.com/content/employment/benefits/bereavement_leave.cfm
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21841950
https://www.theguardian.com/money/work-blog/2014/jan/10/bereavement-leave-your-rights-support-work